I am perilously close to labeling Flipper with one of the most annoying labels of all: picky eater. How, how HOW can this be happening to me??? And do note that I said "me" not "her" because believe me, her myriad inconsistencies affect me WAY more than they do her, the little tender-palated creature.

While she does like a nice variety of rather sophisticated "adult" foods, like marinated pork loin, she does not like many typical "kid" foods, even things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or macaroni and cheese. I make the best mac-n-cheese in the world, from scratch, with real homemade garlic breadcrumbs on top no less...and nope, she won't eat it. What is so maddening is that she USED to be this GREAT eater, inhaling sushi like there's no tomorrow, all manner of fruits and vegetables, and then, slowly, the edibles have become narrower and narrower, and the inedibles greater and greater, until I am going to go insane if I have to throw out one more uneaten honey-and-peanut-butter sandwich, while she melts into a sobbing mass on the kitchen floor because she is so hungry and therefore teetering on the very edge of rationality. Note: she's not the only one teetering.

Part of me, the nurturing, mommy-part, cares a great deal. The other part of me can't really get too worked up about her disdainful rejection of food that just a few weeks, or days, or even hours ago she happily inhaled. And the third part of me simply cannot stand to toss money out. Nor can I bring myself to let the dogs devour her rejects day after day. They are both on diets.

And pack her lunch past the age of 7? I think not. There are many students in the high school, 18 year old kids, mind you, that bring a lunch packed by their mothers. I can't get my brain around this. How? And, really, WHY?? I am already beyond sick and tired of it; merely doing the very, very advanced math required to figure out how many lunches that is after 14 or 15 years of school is enough to put even me off my feed. It should be noted that the math required for such a sum is advanced only for someone with my low math skills. Nonetheless...I find it maddening. And frustrating. And a bit humbling, since my smug, she'll-eat-anything smile has been diminishing more and more as each week passes.

But maybe that's what it's all about: the rise and fall of pride. And taste buds. 

Leigh appears Fridays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Leigh on her blog Flipper and Me.